AMA Sportsmen Club wraps up walleye derby

Fishers united over the last nine days to see who could make the largest catch.

The Walleye tournament was introduced back in 1983, with only 300 people in the tournament. Today, the tournament sells 1,000 tickets, with the biggest attraction being the $10,000 cash prize which was awarded to Dave Labutte this year.

Father-in-law Ronald Bastien tooks Labutte’s tickets to the wrap up party, where you must be present to win the cash prize.

“For his birthday, I bought him a ticket,” explained Bastien. “I’m a member here, and it’s been 20 or 25 years I’ve been coming here. It’s been a very good year. A lot of fish around, they’re smaller ones but it looks like it’s going to be very good going forward. It’s probably the healthiest I’ve seen the water in a long time. A lot of minnows and silver bass, they have been running good. It looks like the rivers are getting healthier again.”

Luc Tremblay, chairman/president of the AMA Sportsmen Club’s walleye committee explained the tournament is open to the public and you do not have to be a member of the Sportsmen Club to participate, and you also don’t need to fish to win the cash prize either. Tickets for the derby were sold out by the end of May.

“The tournament in the past used to go by weight but now it goes by measurement,” said Tremblay. “Longest fish last year was over 29 inches long.”

Ronald Bastien (left) collects the $10,000 grand prize cheque for his son-in-law Dave Labutte at the wrap up party Sunday. He accepts the cheque from AMA Sportsmen Club president Luc Tremblay.

The second prize 9.9 Suzuki boat motor was won by Kevin Gale, and the third prize Simard go7 XSE Fish Finder was won by Tasha Raehler.The biggest fish grand prize winners for the men:1st – Larry Durocher at 31 inches measured in on June 27 at 12:50pm 500 cash prize and trophy
2nd – Dylan Gignac at 31 inches measured in on June 27 at 5:13pm 300 cash prize and trophy

3rd – Dave Garner 30.5 inches measured in on July 1 at 5:45pm 200 cash prize and a trophy

The biggest fish grand prize winner for the women:

1st – Nancy Ridsdale at 30 inches measured in on June 26 at 3:55pm 100 cash prize and trophy

“For the tournament we have three locations to get your fish measured at, Coopers in town, The Village Store in Colchester as well as at the AMS Sportsmen Club,” said Tremblay. “Without all our sponsors and donations this tournament could not happen. We get donations from many different companies and we are very grateful for all their support. A reminder if you are interested in getting a ticket, get them fast as we sold out in no time this year. We plan on selling 1,000 tickets again next year.”